united states to the most wanted man in the world. the question is, hadn't we already stopped waterboarding by the time the bin laden tip was revealed by a detainee? we'll discuss that. slightly lighter matters, major league baseball gets its first no-hitter. it comes in ugly style from the minnesota twins. if you walk six guys, should you go in a second tier in the history of no-hitters. it's way too early for this. good morning. i'm willie geist. this is "way too early," the show classified as a harsh interrogation technique. anyone up at this hour is clearly suffering. i'm glad you're with us watching on msnbc or listening at sirius xm radio. shoot me an e-mail and let me know why you're awake. or you can do what francisco liriano does. we'll read the responses later in the show. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for this wednesday, may 4th. a lot going on including libyan rebels asking for big cash from the international community to continue their fight against moammar gadhafi. plus, the first lady of the united states gets down and gets down well at a local middle school as part of her healthy lifestyle initiative. if the first lady doing the dug gi won't get kids interested --

there's the running man -- nothing will. live at 5:30 a.m. here at 30 rock in new york city. new information about the final moments surrounding osama bin laden's death as a top official in the obama administration says photographs of those moments will be released. in an interview with nbc news, cia director leon panetta says in order to prove osama bin laden is dead, the photos must be released. >> i think there's no question that there were concerns and there were questions that had to be debated about just exactly what kind of impact would these photos have. the bottom line is that, you know, we got bin laden and i think we have to reveal to the rest of the world the fact that we were able to get him and kill him. >> director panetta's comments drew a quick response from the comments. when asked about the remarks, the white house said no decision has been made about releasing the photos. earlier white house press

secretary jay carney did express concerns about the potential impact of those images. >> well, i'll be candid that there are sensitivities here in terms of the appropriateness of releasing photographs of osama bin laden, and in the aftermath of this fire fight. we're making an evaluation about the need to do that because of the sensitivities involved. does it serve or in any way harm our interests? that is not just domestic, but globally. it's fair to say it's a gruesome photograph. >> when asked if president obama is involved in this photo discussion, carney said the president is involved in every aspect of the issue. you have panetta says one thing, the white house another. no decision yet made about whether or not to release the photograph. the white house is also now pulling back from its initial account of the raid that led to osama bin laden's death. new details of the al queda leader's final moments came out yesterday as obama administration officials clarified part of the story.

here is nbc's chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. >> reporter: half past midnight, three u.s. helicopters flying low under pakistani radar zeroed in on the compound. one helicopter was forced to land inside a courtyard clipping a wall with its tail row tore. back at the white house, the president and his national security team with riveted to a live video feed of the operation. as dozens of u.s. commandos set up a perimeter, two teams of assault forces, delta force and navy seals stormed the xwound. one commando came face to face with osama bin laden who was unarmed. bin laden's wife charged straight at the american who shot her in the leg. he then fired two rounds at bin laden, one in the face, one in the chest. the al qaeda leader fell dead. the white house today struggled to explain why bin laden was shot when he was unarmed. >> there were many other people armed in the region -- in the compound. there was a firefight.

>> reporter: 40 minutes after they landed, u.s. forces took off with the body of bin laden, disabling the other helicopter on the way out. five computers, ten hard drives and more than 100 disks and thumb drives were seized. a special cia task force has already started searching the material for al qaeda secrets bin laden may have left behind. >> during his interview, panetta also gave more insight into the mission's directive. >> the authorities we have on bin laden are to kill him. that was made clear. but it was also, as part of their rules of engagement, if he suddenly put up his hands and offered to be captured, then they would have the opportunity obviously to capture him. but that opportunity never developed. >> vice president joe biden made his first public remarks about the operation at the atlantic

council anniversary dinner last night in washington. >> those brave professionals who tracked and killed osama bin laden, it was just actually breathtaking. it was a staggering undertaking, and there was no one else i believe other than an american group of military warriors who could do it. the world is safer place today, not only for the american people but for all people. >> at that event lt night, the vice president also marveling at the way everyone involved kept the secret. he said as many as 16 members of congress were briefed and yet no one leaked it to the press. pakistan also facing intense questioning this morning from the obama administration on how exactly osama bin laden had been living so close to a military community for so long. director panetta explained to "time" magazine why pakistan was not briefed on the mission, panetta telling "time," quote, it was decided that any effort

to work with the pakistanis could jeopardize the mission. what does that tell you about our relationship with that country. later in a closed-door meeting, panetta continued saying either they were involved or incompetent. neither place is a good place to be. this comes as we're learning about the two pakistani men who reportedly protected bin laden in his final days. the men were described as, quote, model neighbors in their community. nbc's azeem ahmed has the latest on the pakistani town, abbottabad where bin laden was hiding. >> reporter: an upper middle class tourist destination surrounded on three sounds by mountains. pakistanis come here to escape the heat during the summer months. people here say they had no idea that osama bin laden had come here, too. >> abbottabad is a very peaceful place. people around the country come here -- >> reporter: a house that's still under development, surrounded by empty plots and

half-built houses. there's no indication that behind these high concrete walls was one of the world's most notorious fugitives, living right in the heart of a gary son town, home to pakistan's retired as well as active army generals. >> i don't believe that osama bin laden can live here. all are restricted area by saerm. >> reporter: there's the elite military academy. some call it pakistan's west point, a sfoen's throw from the compound where osama bin laden was living. this house stands out in this area, not just because it's the biggest one here, but because of its 12-foot walls and barbed wire fence at the top. one family lived just opposite the compound for the last five years. they told us they knew very little about their neighbors. the family didn't mix much with others, they said. they never visited us and we were never invited by them. even local children thought there was something unusual about them. these kids say they thought it was strange that when they played ball in the area, if it

went over the fence, it was never returned. local residents are still trying to make sense of what happened here. >> i feel disgraced. >> we are very disappointed with our army, with our intelligence. >> reporter: despite all the attention now focused on them, for most of the people of abbottabad, life still goes on as normal. >> that was tazeem ahmed reporting. didn't even have the common courtesy to return the balls when they crossed over. the headlines on "new york times" "harsh methods of questioning debated again." that's on the front page. bin laden's death reigniting the debate as details emerge about how exactly the united states found the compound. many are asking the question, did harsh interrogation produce at least some of the information that led to osama bin laden. in that exclusive interview with "time" magazine, former head of counterterrorism at cia, jose rodriguez, techniques like sleep deprivation and waterboarding led to the finding of osama bin

laden. destruction of videos of senior al qaeda videos. information provided by khalid sheikh mohammed and others was the lead information that eventually led to the location of bin laden's compound and the operation that led to his death. cia director panetta also addressed that issue last night. >> can you confirm that it was as a result of waterboarding that we learned what we needed to learn to go after bin laden? >> you know, brian, in the intelligence business, you work from a lot of sources of information. that was true here. clearly some of it came from detainees and the interrogation of detainees. but we also had information from other sources as well. it's a little difficult to say it was due just to one source of information that we got. >> khalid sheikh mohammed was famously water boarded 183 times, many have pointed out over the last 48 hours that

waterboarding had been stopped by the cia by the time some of this information was given that led to osama bin laden. as president obama prepares to make a trip to ground zero tomorrow to mark the killing of osama bin laden, former president george w. bush has turned down an invitation to join him. a spokesman for the former president says president bush would rather stay out of the spotlight. this comes as a successful mission in pakistan gives president obama a bit of a boos in the the polls. the latest "washington post" pew poll has the approval rating for president obama up to 56%. rebel leaders in libya are asking for $3 billion in aid from international donors. they say without that money, the rebel government will be unable to pay its people's salaries or to provide food and medicine. leaders urge countries that have frozen aid to the gadhafi government to instead move that money to them. a senior u.s. official says the united states would like to provide financial support but is trying to figure out what it can

do legally. in business, the european union and imf are opening their wallets once again, this time to give portugal a little financial aid. a lot of financial aid we should say. let's take an early look at the markets as we get up in your business. cnbc's rebecca meehan is live in london. >> let's give you the figures on the portugal bailout. in euro, 78 billion euro. let me translate that into dollars, $116 billion is how much this will cost. this is the deal that portugal has struck with the imf and the eu. for this bailout and really they're following in the footsteps of greece and ireland. the third eu country to have to seek aid. now, the elections are taking place june 5th. they'll have to get down to the nitty-gritty after that. >> that is a large chunk of change. remember bake ka meehan in london. the first no-hitter of the young baseball season and it was about as ugly as the inherently

beautiful no-hitter can be. highlights from baseball and from the nba play-offs straight ahead. extreme weather hits the midwest where flooding trapped a 93-year-old woman in a half submerged car. we'll show you the rescue and get a check of your weather when "way too early" comes right back.

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welcome back to "way too early." a beautiful live picture of the united states capitol building, 5:45 on the button on the east coast. down south they're starting to recover from last week's devastating tornadoes. a long road back. now another part of the country getting hit by extreme weather. six states across the midwest and mid south feeling mother

nature's rath following days of heavy rain. in one video released by the missouri national guard, a dramatic and we should point out successful rescue of a 93-year-old woman trapped in a partially submerged call in the swell of missouri's black river. the woman is doing fine. with more on this extreme weather, let's bring in nbc meteorologist bill karins. morning, bill. >> good morning. this is going to go down as the record flooding on the mississippi. you don't say that. this is the mississippi river, the biggest river we have. it's going back to 1937 as the great flood on the mississippi. in some cases we're going to top that. we're going to have thousands of homes with water in them. people are already being evacuated in illinois, kentucky and all the way through arkansas. that's the problem area. the mississippi river, it flows slowly. it's going to take a week for this water to even get as far south as memphis, for your crest on the river there. in the east if you're waking up with us, bring your umbrella today, the busy i-95 corridor, a

cool, rainy day. we could even see thunderstorms out there. be prepared for wet weather today. airports should have some delays. it's not going to be too windy out there n. the middle of the country where we showed you the pictures of the flooding, willie, it's dry there. it looks dry for at least a week straight, but a little too late. >> what a stretch of weather over the last couple weeks. >> we're getting our break though. finally slowing down. >> let's hope so for their sake. let's turn to sports now. major league baseball gets its first no-hitter of the season from minnesota's francisco liriano last night. he entered the game with a 9.1 e.r.a. that's not good. he had never even thrown a complete game. in chicago, taking on the white sox, seventh inning, a lot of help from his fielders, danny valencia. the stop is one thing, but how about the throw? it didn't hurt that justin morneau was running. nice throw. with two out in the ninth, adam dunn lines it straight to the shortstop, preserving the

no-hitter, not the prettiest, but one nevertheless. liriano two strikeouts, walked six. the twins win 1-0. congratulations to francisco liriano. cc sabathia and the yankees on the road in detroit. andrew jones, new yankee tags on the fly ball to right. that's shallow and you're not getting younger. tigers get the lead. detroit's austin jackson puts it into the left field corner. one run scores on the triple. detroit snapping a seven-game losing streak, beating the yankees 4-2. this caught our eye this morning, front page of "the new york times," pointing out that derek jeter threw through 100 at-bats is batting .250. last season he hit .270. not looking so good in the early going. nba play-offs, heat-celtics, second quarter. watch this move by dwyane wade.

a little step through, great ball fake right past kevin garnett. wade finished with 23 points. celtics take a one-point lead. then this, lebron james off the steal, spins around rondo and throws it down with two hands. lebron led miami with 35 points. the heat go on a 14-0 run in the fourth quarter. taking game two 102-91. kevin durant scored 26. oklahoma city bounced back to beat the grizzlies, 111-102. 22-year-old derrick rose, the youngest player ever to win the most valuable player award of the nba. kind of a touching moment came at the end of his acceptance speech when he talked about who motivates him most. >> last but not least, i want to thank my mom.

my heart, the reason i play the way that i play, just everyth g everything, just knowing that days that i don't feel like going into practice or i'm having a hard time, you keep me going ef he day, and i love you. i appreciate you being in my life. >> derrick rose, kid from chicago playing for the team he grew uprooting for. now the most valuable player of the nba at the age of 22. coming up on "morning joe," the white house revidss its story about osama bin laden's final moments. turns out he was not armed after auchlt does that matter? we'll discuss. when we come back we'll huddle around the water cooler to watch, what i dair call the finest political dancing ever. the first lady gets down when "way too early" comes back. hey, smart. you book your room yet?

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the death of osama bin laden has opened a slot on one of the most infamous criminalists in the world, the ten most wanted. his history on the event precedes the event he may be best known for, the september 11th attack. if you want to sound smart, tell your friends osama bin laden was added to the list in 1999 in

connection with the kenya and tans nia embassy bombings. a separate most wanted terrorist list was created in 2001 after the attacks of september 11th. for the real news, let's huddle around the water cooler to watch the first lady of the united states getting down in public. i'm going to come out and stay it, she gets down well. here she is at an event for her "let's move" initiative, trying to get kids in shape. this is alleys deihl elementary school. everybody was kind of choreographed. it's just good dancing. no getting around it. let's go side by side and see how the first lady shapes up with beyonce herself. ♪ ♪ >> is it perfect? is she beyonce? no. but that's asking a lot of the first lady of the united states.

last night on "the daily show" jon stewart weighing in on the death of osama bin laden and wondering as many are how pakistani intelligence didn't know that osama bin laden was living in a giant compound about, i don't know, 30, 35 miles outside islamabad. >> bin laden wasn't hiding in pakistan. he was chillin in pakistan, crashing, if you will. if waldo hit the way osama bin laden did, i wouldn't find those books so incredibly frustrating. look, that's him right there. he's in the giant high-walled compound. he's right there. and now you're like, oh, that was osama's house? the tall lanky guy? we thought maybe jeff gold bloom had been looking for a summer retreat, had grown a beard and was burning all his trash. you know hollywood people. eccentric. >> stewart pointing out last night that the military academy

about a half mile down the road. he said it was so close, that academy, if the pakistani military academy were dominos, they were deliver to bin laden on foot. still ahead on "way too early" why are you awake. and "morning joe" live from washington, d.c. is just moments away. you can turn ordinary chicken into luscious, delicious, and scrumptious. with recipes from campbellskitchen.com, and campbell's cream of chicken soup. campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™ i'm gonna use less honey. i'm gonna text less. well, i'm gonna use less bath tissue with charmin!!! [ female announcer ] with charmin ultra soft you can feel good while using less. charmin ultra soft's ultra-cushiony design is soft and more absorbent. so you can use four times less versus the leading value brand. ahh, using less never felt so good. [ female announcer ] charmin ultra soft.

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number one story right now on msnbc.com, "the new york times" reporting in his final days, osama bin laden was protected in that giant compound by two pakistanis. we'll have much more on his death and some of the controversy in a minute on "morning joe." rob, what are they say? >> cally writes, i'm celebrating "star wars" day. may the fourth be with you. >> apparently this is a real thing, may the fourth be with you. a real holiday. first of all, thank you for watching. second of all, you're a huge nerd. what else you got? >> mike writes had to stay up to see where i could purchase that cool michelle obama dance video. >> i would buy that video. t.j., let's drink it in and enjoy it.